I headed south past a modern hospital adorned with a highly decorative Christmas Tree and found myself in a Parkland area between the Avenue Balboa and the Pacific Ocean.
In every way this was a First World artefact: neatly mowed grass, paths and cycleways, tasteful planting, shelters and even re-cycling areas for rubbish.
Policemen patrolled at regular intervals. I’ve written before about the levels of security in Central America and the all too prominent bearing of firearms by the security services but finally have begun to think that, if the guns were removed they are providing the very service that most people in UK claim to want. In other words; more policemen on the streets.
Trouble is it would be very expensive to provide such a level of service in the UK.
As noted yesterday, the entire Casco Antigua is set to benefit from an urban renewal scheme which will see the building shells restored to productive use.
Work has already started in places and men were busy in places. Strange to see so much activity taking place on a Sunday although in the area around the hotel virtually everything is shut down for the day. In one place it was clear that progress will be even slower as squatters have taken over the buildings and the legal wheels (to evict them) grind even more slowly than in most other places. On the French Square there were women selling textiles who appeared to be of a completely different ethnic character to those met in Boquete. Brief research seems to suggest that further north the dresses are called Enagua and are worn by the Ngobe Bugle whilst here in Panama City the ladies were Quechua.
Confusingly, these people are from South America so I need to do some more research on this. I attracted the attention of an elderly Jamaican man who seemed to want to help me. He started off by telling me how favourable the male/female ratio was here in Panama City. When this didn’t gain much reaction he began to tell me about some of the churches and tried to get me interested in the wares of some of the street traders. I told him that what I really wanted was a simple nylon bag to accommodate my luggage overflow and he offered to take me to a suitable shop. En route we passed two freshly minted American tourists and he promptly abandoned me with the words, “Got to make some money.”
I made my way back to the hotel through a district far less salubrious although I wouldn’t have wanted to walk it at night. 
It is striking how great the contrast is between the north and south side of the Avenue Balboa. Even the pavement is not much used for walking on. The city boasts several very modern shopping malls so my next target was the Multicentro Mall just so I could experience the contrast. Tiring by now I took a taxi to get there. Sad to say, Shopping Malls are the same everywhere and the only real difference here was the Christmas Angels outside.
Inside was a ‘Relaxation Centre’ where two very bored looking masseurs were pummelling two clients who didn’t seem any the worse for the experience. Returning to the real world I could see that I was very close to skyscraper land and set off for a closer look. Most of these buildings have appeared in the last 15 years and although the top ends look very impressive the impact of the climate was already apparent on the lower portions of some buildings with paint peeling and rust spreading from metal fixings. Whilst some of the buildings are commercial, a lot of them have large amounts of residential space and it is clear that this is where the moneyed classes live.
I found a park in which extremely well dressed children were being supervised by equally well dressed women. There were not too many men about so maybe my Jamaican friend had a point! My final stop was to photograph the Revolution Tower. This had caught my eye from miles away and was equally impressive close up although I wish there had been just a little sunshine to set up the photograph.
At a distance it looks more like an optical illusion; close up it looks unique.
Returning to the hotel and looking forward to food and a drink I found that there was nothing open except McDonalds. This one was not like any other I’ve been to. We had been warned to expect slower service in Panama than anywhere else but so far, this had not really been the case. OK, there was a bit of a queue but it took 25 minutes to get a burger. Good job Panamanians don’t go in for slow cooking. Since then I’ve written up all the remaining days, packed my bag and disposed of my rubbish. A taxi is due at 6am to take me to the airport and the long journey home starts. Many hours have gone into this blog and if I’d appreciated before I began how much effort it would take I might never have started. I’m glad I did. Next week I shall offer a few final reflections on the overall experience but for now, Hasta Luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment